His uncle. Now that I thought about it, the article I’d read might have mentioned a twin brother.
Jesus. Being kidnapped by your own uncle was—well, in the grand scheme of betrayals, it was probably better to be kidnapped by your uncle than your father. But that was splitting hairs.
“Come on now, Eric,” Eddie said. “Your turn. Tell me where my dear nephew is.”
“You’re going to shoot me anyway,” I spat. “So why the hell would I tell you anything?”
“Because you don’t know for sure I won’t,” Eddie said, his tone implying that he was the reasonable one, and I was the one who was unhinged. “And because, as of now, that lovely young woman I saw on the balcony of your house doesn’t know I’m here. If you’d like to keep it that way—and keep her alive too—I think you’re going to want to play ball.”
My heart stopped. Hadley had nothing to do with this. She was only here because I’d asked for her help. I couldn’t put her at risk.
But there was no fucking way I was telling Eddie where Ari was. There was no knowing what he’d do to Ari if he got his hands on him again. Even if Eddie just wanted Ari for money, I didn’t trust him.
And then, in the stillness of the forest glade, my phone rang.
Eddie’s eyes widened in surprise, and my stomach turned a somersault. Any other day, and I wouldn’t even have had my phone with me, much less have the ringer on. But with Ari leaving—Ari with a new phone in his hand—I hadn’t wanted to risk him calling and not getting a hold of me.
Eddie waved the gun. “Toss that thing over here.”
I weighed the pros and cons of doing what he said. I didn’t particularly want to comply, but there was a very good chance he would shoot me if I didn’t.
He’d already told me who he was. I doubted he planned to leave me alive to report that to the police, once he got what he wanted. But if I could keep the conversation going a little longer, maybe I could think of a way out.
I dug into my pocket and tossed my phone to the ground in front of him, using the opportunity to move even further away from the cliff’s edge. Eddie bent over to pick it up, keeping the gun and one eye trained on me, but he smiled when he saw the screen.
“Ah, my sweet nephew is calling. Do you think I should answer, and tell him I have his boyfriend at the edge of a cliff?”
I felt sick. Ari was calling me. He needed me, and his kidnapper was standing here, taunting me. I took another step towards him as the ringing stopped, but Eddie leveled the gun at my chest.
“I’d stop moving if I were you.” His voice was matter of fact, and he glanced down at the phone screen again when it vibrated. “Well, look at that. He’s solved our problem for us.”
My eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
Eddie hefted the phone and began to read aloud in a whiny voice that was nothing like Ari’s in real life.
“On my way back. Don’t be mad. I fell asleep in the car and had the dream again and finally saw the other guy’s face. It’s my dad. My dad’s the one who tried to kidnap me.’”
Eddie snickered.
“Doing my job for me. Helpful, isn’t he?” He swiped his thumb across the screen of my phone. “Now we can just text him back and say you’ll meet him up here—a nice romantic spot, don’t you think—and once he’s here, he and I will get on the boat and be on our merry way.”
The boat. I couldn’t help taking a peek back out at the water. That same yacht was still in the bay. Fuck. I should have known there was something weird about it.
“He doesn’t know this spot,” I said quickly. Eddie’s thumb stilled above the phone screen. “He’s never come out here before. He won’t know what you mean, which means he’ll know it’s not me texting.”
The first part, at least, was true. The only time Ari had ventured very far out of the house was in the blizzard. That didn’t necessarily mean he’d be immediately suspicious if Eddie texted him directions on how to get here, but Eddie didn’t know that.
None of my options were good, but if Ari came out here to